The Night Before it Happened
by redrccm
Summary: The last night before Ultron attacked Earth and destroyed everything. The last night Natasha and Steve were together in a long while;


**A/N: For you people who don't know what happens in Age of Ultron, the world ends. Yeah, that's basically it. So, this is the night before the world ended :v**

**Enjoy, R&R**

**~X~**

Natasha was lazy when it came to that kind of thing. She didn't like to go shopping, she didn't like to play dress up or dressing up, she didn't like to get ready to parties and, most of all, she hated to go to parties that all of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents where all the S.H.I.E.L.D agents would attend to. Her only hope in that damned ball that Stark was throwing was Steve, she had even given up on Clint, he wanted to sleep with Kate, so she didn't really have anyone to talk to or dance.

Natasha had been postponing that for weeks, maybe months, she didn't even remember anymore, all she knew was that the party would be later that day, at 8:00 pm sharp in the Opera. Stark had closed the place just for them, but she simply didn't want to go out to look for a dress, perhaps she could find something in her wardrobe. It was another Friday and she had nothing to do. Yet, she would rather count how many grains of rice there were in a 1kg pack - and that was 50,000 grains – than look for a dress in a crowded mall. That way, the redhead decided to have a look in her closet.

She lived in a small apartment, it was simple, she liked simple, but she had a huge closet with all kinds of things, from pants to dresses to her catsuit and guns. It was like the storage in her place. Since she went on a lot of missions in which she had to pretend that she was of the high society – and that meant balls and fancy dinners with millionaires – She had a lot of long and beautiful dressed stocked to those occasions. But Natasha didn't want to wear a dress with lace and embroidery, she wanted a simple dress. A dress that would make her comfortable and stunning at the same time. Natasha scoffed, as if there was someone there she wanted to impress, seduce. She simply wanted to look like she cared.

She entered the room that was bigger than her bedroom and had a look at all the dresses she kept there, all of them far too fancy for what she wanted, but there was one, no, not just one. It was _the one_ the dress she would wear. Now that she had clothes set up, she had to figure what she would do for her makeup and hair. She simply couldn't leave her hair down, there would be dozens of paparazzi there. When everything was set up, she could finally seat down and have a nice cup coffee.

She took a sip of her drink and turned a page of the book she was reading when her phone rang. Natasha scoffed and closed her book with annoyance. She looked at the screen, it was Steve who was calling and that simple fact made things much lighter. She didn't know why, but whenever she was with him, things that would bother her so much if it was someone else, weren't as bad.

"Romanoff here." She picked up the phone, the words she spoke were almost automatic.

"Hey, Nat. It's Steve."

"Hi, Steve." She greeted him.

"So, Nat, are you doing anything this afternoon?"

"Well, I still have to set things up here, get ready for the ball y'know?"

"Oh, right." He sounded disappointed.

"Why?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I was going to ask for a favor, but it's nothing urgent."

"If you say so..." She replied.

"So, Nat... Bye, see you at the party."

"Hey, Steve."

"What?"

"If there's anything you need, _anything_, you can call me and ask for it, got it?"

"Yup, thanks."

"See you, then, Star spangled man." She laughed.

"See you, Red." Both of them laughed and hung up.

Everyone said that there was some sort of tension between them, something more than friendship. Tony said it, Sam said it, Bruce said it and even Thor and Clint said it and they didn't mess around with that kind of thing. Yet, Natasha and Steve both laughed at those affirmations. It seemed so nonsense. Why would they say that? Natasha had a friendship with Steve that even resembled hers with Clint and that meant much. There weren't lies between them. Secrets, many, but not lies. Well, Having a relationship with Natasha meant secrets. Steve learned to cope with that, he learned to respect her privacy and be grateful for having her tell him the truth, for having her trust.

After the incident with Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D had pretty much fallen apart, if it wasn't for Fury and Steve, her life wouldn't be what it was that day, it would be dirtier than ever and her ledger, all she had managed to wipe would be stained again. And all that time, all the while they worked to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D, she was there helping them and, that way her friendship with Steve grew. And she swore they were _just friends. _He was very attractive, yes, but she had no further interest - or did she?

Either way, she had better things to worry about now than her relationship with Steve, it was 16:00, but she had to start getting ready, it would take her three hours, maybe more to get everything done and prepare herself mentally for what was about to come. It was the beginning of winter, so the days weren't too cold, yet, she had a steaming hot bath. She washed her hair and dried it, making it look natural with her curls. She tied it up while she put on makeup, light eyes and crimson red lipstick. She tied her hair up in a messy ballerina bun. She had a look at herself in the mirror before nodding in approval and putting on the dress. It was a simple silken dark blue dress, almost black. It was tight on top, marking her figure then the skirt opened, giving her some more space to move. The dress made her stand out, it enhanced her natural featured and contrasted with her milky white skin. She looked just like the princesses that children read about. She looked so stunning that even her was surprised when she looked at herself on the mirror.

Stark had set up for limousines to pick them up at their apartments, so, when she was ready, the car that would take her to party had already arrived. When she reached the lobby, she could see the driver looking at her, not knowing exactly what hit him, it was understandable even her had the same reaction. Natasha entered the car and took deep breaths, preparing herself for that party, for the paparazzi, to face Tony and all the compliments she would get – and she wasn't being cocky, she knew she would have attention because of her looks, she always did.

She arrived at 8:00 sharp and there were already many paparazzi gathered in front of the marble steps that led to the main hall. All the photographers stopped whatever they were doing and started to take pictures of her. Natasha sighed, but put on her most charming smile as she allowed them to expose her, to publish her pictures in magazines. And all the while, she could see many of the other agents trying to fight with her for that spot, one that she would gladly give them, but she had to seem nice, sociable, for Stark and even for herself, even if that meant angering others.

Natasha finally got rid of the reporters and entered the ballroom, it was beautifully decorated, the place itself, without decoration was beautiful, but it looked even better the way it was. There were many people, more than she'd expected to be. She wondered if they were all S.H.I.E.L.D agents and realized that she didn't even know half of the people who worked with her, only the Avengers and some of the agents. She walked around the crowd, searching for familiar faces in between comments and pick up lines.

None of her friends had arrived yet, not even Tony and he was the host. They all had marked seats in marked tables, there was one just for the Avengers, so she walked there, hoping to find someone she knew, a friend. She didn't. None of them had arrived yet. She sat down at the table and watched as waiters and guests passed by. Natasha sighed and tapped her fingers on the surface of the table.

"Good evening. Why is this beautiful woman by herself?" Clint's said sitting by her side. Natasha laughed, "No, really, you look... wow. How is it that you're alone? Waiting for mr. Rogers to arrive?"

"Shut up." She punched him lightly on the arm.

"Okay, Miss Rogers, as you wish. I don't want him to be mad at me." Both of them laughed, she was used to that kind of jokes, at first they did it with Clint and her and now it was with Steve.

Well, she had to admit that, with Steve, it didn't seem half as bad as it did with Clint. Natasha Barton didn't sound as good as Natasha Rogers. Wait. Why was she even thinking about that? Clint was still laughing as he looked at her.

"Is there something wrong with my face, Barton?"

"No, Romanoff, there isn-" She watched as he tried to keep a straight face but failed and started laughing all over again until she too was laughing.

Then all of the lights faded and a single beam of light focused on the stairs that led inside the theater.

"I bet that's Tony making an announcement." Clint murmured.

"No shit, Sherlock?" She looked at him, "We better go there or he'll be asking us where we were when he was giving his oh-so-important speech."

They stood up and walked towards the staircase. When they were in front of it, her eyes locked with Tony's and he winked at her – not after a small pause in which his eyes roamed up and down her body. They were all there, all of her friends, all her family. They were her family, the Avengers, the people she loved and the only ones she would ever be able to count on.

She saw Steve by her side, he couldn't seem to take his eyes off her for more that he tried. That was weird, he wasn't a guy who did those things. She smiled at him and he blushed. She heard Clint and Sam talking about how she and her husband had finally met at the party and how good it was.

"- And I wanted to thank you all for being here, especially Pepper and the Avengers. Bruce, Clint, Nat, Steve and Sam. Thor couldn't make it, unfortunately. We're missing you here, buddy." Tony said, thunder echoed in the distance and everyone laughed. The ball wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. In fact, the feeling of being there with all those people in a party was actually quite comforting. "Thank you!" Tony exclaimed and the lights were back on. There was an orchestra there and it started to play waltz. Tony and Pepper were the first ones to start dancing, joined by all the other couples. Clint was there dancing with Jessica, Bruce with Betty, Sam with some other girl and the only Avengers off the dance floor, along with some other excluded agents were sitting on their tables, sipping at drinks. And that included Steve.

Natasha loved to dance and she knew Steve did too. So she walked towards him from across the room, all eyes on her as she passed and got to where he was sitting. She stopped before him and flashed him a half smile. "Aren't you going to ask me to dance?"

She could swear that Steve's eyes widened a bit at that moment. He blushed as he looked at her. Steve stood, even with her wearing high heels, he still towered over her, but she kept her stance, relaxing only a bit. "Y-You... I... Us... I don't really know how to dance."

"Don't worry about it, I'll teach you." She smiled fully at him, then.

"Then I will be more than glad to join you." He smiled back at her, all the embarrassment on his voice a few moment before was gone. And, even though he wasn't the one that asked her if she wanted to dance, he held out his hand for her. She took it and he led her to the dance floor.

The stopped when they reached the center of the dance floor, she could feel all the eyes on them. "You move your feet to the sound." Natasha explained, "In a square, 1, 2, 3, 4." She counted on time with the waltz that was playing, "Yes, yes, that's it."

She felt him place his hand delicately on her waist and she did the same with his back. He pulled her closer so they were less than an inch apart from each other and they swayed to the Russian waltz. They swirled around the room, she taught him the choreographies she knew by heart. Each song was danced a different way. It was perfect, simply perfect. The feeling of his breath on her skin and his strong arms around her. And everything and everyone around them was gone. It was just her and Steve and the music.

They seemed to float around the room when she realized that they were, indeed, more than just friends, that Stark and Clint and Tony and Bruce and Thor and Sam... They were all right, there was a tension between her and Steve and she loved him. And that much time she had spent with him made her fall in love. She loved all of his perfections and imperfections and the moments she spent with him... Oh, those moments, she never wanted them to fade away, to pass.

Steve stopped and she stopped. Natasha looked up into his eyes and he looked down into hers.

"Nat..." He muttered.

"Yes, Steve?"

He took a deep breath, "May I kiss you?"

She smiled at him, a shy smiled, almost unnoticeable, "You don't even have to ask."

He kissed her. Their lips touched and she closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of being together with him was so good, like they were meant to be together and, for the first time that night, all eyes were on them and she knew it, but she didn't care.


End file.
